Alcatel-Lucent 7450 Ethernet Service Switch
Alcatel-Lucent extends its MPLS-enabled 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) with Y.1731 OAM, 10GE tunable optics cards, application assured VPNs and video optimization for IPTV/video applications, unlocking new revenue possibilities for carriers. (8/11/2009)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Brocade NetIron MLX Series Router
Brocade’s NetIron MLX series Ethernet router portfolio continues to hold leading metrics for carrier Ethernet service delivery and its new CER 2000 Series compact router extends full Layer 3 carrier Ethernet services to the network’s edge. (3/5/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Cisco 7600 series
Cisco’s recent additions to the 7600 router include new enhanced Ethernet service modules, an integrated session border control, and an intelligent services gateway (for PDSN/GGSN gateways) to address emerging service provider requirements. (9/15/2009)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

ECI Telecom 9700 Series Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router
ECI’s 9700 Series remains competitive in the carrier Ethernet market, its transport-oriented approach is receiving attention from multiple service providers as a way to reduce OpEx and improve network scale; however, will this bolster sales? (3/5/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Ericsson SM Family Metro Ethernet Service Transport
Ericsson’s SM480 is threatening as a carrier Ethernet service/aggregation router since it can deployed as part of a mobility offer as well as in fixed line networks; however the SM480 has not garnered as much customer traction as the SmartEdge. (3/10/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Extreme Black Diamond 10808
Extreme’s BlackDiamond 10808 provides support for metro core-distribution and Internet exchange applications and, with a highly resilient platform and a full suite of routing protocols, it has passed the DOD’s VoIP testing for assured services. (6/29/2009)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Force10 Networks ExaScale E-Series
Force10’s ExaScale E-Series router as an integral part of a virtualized strategy for service provider - data center networking, it scales up to 140 line rate 10 GigE ports/chassis, and its 100 Gbps/slot data capacity insures 40G/100G-ready status. (3/5/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Foundry Networks NetIron MLX Series Router
Foundry’s NetIron MLX Series offers a rich set of high-performance Layer 3 routing and advanced Layer 2 Ethernet switching capabilities, and garnered a third place market share in the carrier Ethernet access and aggregation market in Q3 2008. (12/19/2008)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Huawei CX600 Metro Services Platform
Huawei’s CX600 series Metro Services Platform gains 400Gbps/slot capacity with new X8/ X16 models, plus the new X1/X2 300mm versions extend its reach further into the access network. Will these new capabilities propel the CX600 into more markets? (3/5/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge Router
Juniper’s MX Series routers gets a boost from new Trio-based silicon that enables scaling in three dimensions (3D) which include capacity, service depth and subscriber density; however, can it become the dominant universal edge router? (3/10/2010)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Nokia Siemens Networks SURPASS hiD 6600 Series
Nokia Siemens Networks’ SURPASS hiD 6600 switches provide a cost-effective, fully managed carrier Ethernet delivery infrastructure based on a hybrid carrier-grade Ethernet MPLS or PBB-TE architecture from first-mile nodes to IP core. (2/3/2009)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

Nortel Metro ERS 8600
Nortel’s Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 offers intelligent switching, firewall and intrusion detection capabilities, scales up to 384 GigE/96 10 GigE ports plus ATM, PoS, and WDM connectivity. Release 5.1 adds new multicast and IPv6 support. (6/30/2009)
| Client Access | Purchase Advisor Online: Price $495 |

• Sections
  
• - Current Perspective Rating
• - Product Strengths & Weaknesses
• - Product Buying Criteria
• - Product Metrics

Top

• Buying Criteria
  • System Performance and Architecture
    • Performance is the switching and routing capacity, throughput and feature set.
  • Service Assurance
    • Service assurance includes the ability of the system to deliver highly available and robust services in the event of hardware or software failures, the ability to provide hitless software upgrades, the ability to recover from link or facility failures, the OAM features, and other recovery features.
  • Interface Support
    • Interface support outlines the types of interfaces, LAN and WAN, supported, such as Ethernet, POS, optical, WDM/CDWM, and legacy. This includes the type and number of ports per I/O module or line interface module. The breadth of interfaces supported is also considered.
  • System and Service Management
    • Accounting and management features enable the service provider to manage the devices and provide support for provisioning, OAM, OSS/BSS integration, security, and other specialized applications that may exist within the vendor or vendor/partnership for the product or product family.
  • Footprint and Density
    • The overall footprint of the system in terms of chassis size, power requirements, the overall I/O chassis and rack densities for the interface types supported, and the status of the product's NEBS-level certifications.
  • Routing and Service Features
    • The system's ability to provide routing and service features, which includes the platform's ability to provide Ethernet services, the level of routing support, quality of service (QoS), route scalability, MPLS, pseudowire support, and other attributes.

Top

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• Product Metrics
  • Performance
    • Performance is the switching and routing capacity and throughput.
  • Switching Capacity
    • The total system switching capacity as expressed by vendor in Gbp.
  • Full Duplex Switching Capacity
    • The switching capacity expressed as a full duplex (in/out) figure.
  • Routing/Switching Performance
    • Performance in terms of throughput measures in Mpps for L2/L3
  • Service Performance
    • Performance per Switching Module.
  • Rack Density
    • Number of Chassis per rack
  • Architecture
    • The system design of the platform.
  • Switch Fabric
    • This includes switch fabric design, load sharing, and redundancy options.
  • Distribution of Intelligence
    • Physical placement and distribution of switching, routing, or processing intelligence within switch components.
  • Queuing, Buffering
    • The number of queues and size of buffers used on port modules.
  • Service Assurance
    • Resilency - Hardware and Software
  • Hardware Redundancy
    • Redundancy of system components.
  • Redundant Power, Fans, Feeds
  • Redundant Switch Fabric/Forwarding Engines
  • Interface Redundancy 1:1
  • Interface Redundancy, 1:N
  • Redundant Hot Swappable Components
  • SONET APS
  • RPR, Standard/Propietary
  • Resilience/Availability
    • Features other than harwdare redundancy that increase the reliability of the network.
  • Control, Data, and Management Plane Separation
  • Graceful Restart
  • 50 ms Link Failover
  • MPLS Fast Reroute
  • Non-Stop Switcing/Hitless Layer 2 Failover
  • Non-Stop Routing/Hitless Layer 3 Failover
  • Non-Stop Services/Hitless Layer 4 Failover
  • Hitless Software Upgrade
  • Capacity
    • Capacity is the volume of interfaces the platform can support.
  • 10 Gbps Ports/Chassis (non-blocking)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking 10 Gbps ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • 10 Gbps Ports/Chassis (over-subscribed)
    • The maximum configuration of oversubscribed or partial blocking 10 Gbps ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • 1 Gbps Ports/Chassis (non-blocking)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking or line rate 1 Gbps ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • 1 Gbps Ports/Chassis (over-subscribed)
    • The maximum configuration of over-subscribed or partial blocking 1 Gbps ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • 10/100 Mbps Ports/Chassis
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking 10/100 Mbps ports that canbe configured in one chassis.
  • 100 Mbps Ports/Chassis
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking 100 Mbps ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • T3/E3 Ports/Chassis
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking T3/E3 ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • ATM Ports/Chassis (OC-3)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking OC-3 ATM ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • ATM Ports/Chassis (OC-12)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking OC-12 ATM ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • ATM Ports/Chassis (OC-48)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking OC-48 ATM ports can be configured in one chassis.
    ATM Ports/Chassis (OC-192)
    • The maximum configuration of non-blocking OC-192 ATM ports that can be configured in one chassis.
  • POS Ports/Chassis (OC-3/STM-1)
    • The maximum configuration of OC-3/STM-1 POS ports.
  • POS Ports/Chassis (OC-12/STM-4)
    • The maximum configuration of OC-12/STM-4 POS ports.
  • POS Ports/Chassis (OC-48/STM-16)
    • The maximum configuration of OC-48/STM-16 POS ports.
  • POS Ports/Chassis (OC-192/STM-48)
    • The maximum configuration of OC-192/STM-48 POS ports.
  • WDM Lambdas/Chassis
    • The maximum WDM ports and supported wavelengths.
  • Interfaces
    • These are the type of Input/Output connections that can be terminated on the platform.
  • 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, and the type of interface they provide.
  • 100 Mbps Ethernet
    • Port capacity of interface modules supporting 100 Mbps Ethernet, and the type of interface they provide.
  • 100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting 100 Mbps/1000 Mbps Ethernet, and the type of interface they provide.
  • 1 Gbps Ethernet
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps), and the type of interface they provide.
  • 10 Gbps Ethernet
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting 10 Gbps, and the type of interface they provide.
  • DS-1/DS-3/HSSI
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting T1/E1, T3/E3 (and subrate speeds), or high speed serial interfaces, and the type of interface they provide.
  • ATM
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) circuits, and the type of interface they provide.
  • POS
    • The port capacity of interface modules supporting Packet-over-SONET (POS), and the type of interface they provide.
  • Features
    • The support for software or hardware-based features.
  • CoS/QoS
    • The features included that support the implementation of CoS and QoS functionality.
  • Hardware-based QoS
    • Hardware based QoS - ACLs, Queues, Filters, Accounting Fordwarding, etc.
  • Forwarding Classes/Port
    • Number of Forwarding Classes supported per port
  • Service-based QoS
  • Interface-based QoS
  • ATM Ports/Chassis (OC-48)
  • Rate Shaping/Limiting/Marking
  • Line Rate Forwarding
  • Layer 2, IEE 802.1p Traffic Prioritization
  • Policy-based Traffic Mangement
  • Hierarchial QoS
  • Load Balancing
    • The load balancing mechanisms supporting equal distribution of single traffic flows across multiple diverse links.
  • Link Aggregation
    • The ability to support aggregation of multiple physical links into one logical link.
  • MPLS
    • Support for Multi-Protocol Label Switching.
  • Network Mgt.
    • The features supporting monitoring and management of the network.
  • Provisioning
    • The ability to allot bandwidth to users in specified increments.
  • Routed Protocols
    • Routed LAN protocol support.
  • Routing Protocols
    • The support of routing protocols.
  • Route Scalability
    • The number of routes supported by the system.
  • VLANs/Multicast
    • The support of virtual LAN environments and multicast distribution to a population of hosts.
  • Network Management
    • The features supporting monitoring and management of the network.
  • EMS
    • Element Management System Software features.
  • Fault Management
    • Features that enable carriers to identify, isolate, correlate, and resolve network problems.
  • Configuration Management
    • Features that enable carriers to build and maintain configuration files, including hardware and software options.
  • Accounting
    • Features that enable carriers to collect transaction records based on various packet parameters (type of service field, packet destination, packets/flow,etc.).
  • Performance Management
    • Features that enable the carrier to monitor network performance characteristics of availability, delay, packet loss, etc.
  • Security
    • Features that enable carriers to resist hacking of sensitive data through administration of permission file, use of special security protocols for authorization, encryption, etc.
  • Physical Specifications
    • The chassis size, power consumption, and other related physical attributes of the platform.
  • Slots/Chassis
    • The total number of module slots in the chassis and the number available for I/O modules.
  • I/O Slots
    • The total number of module slots in the chassis for I/O modules.
  • Dimensions
    • The height, width, and depth of the system in English and metric units.
  • MTBF
    • The mean time between failure and method of measurement.
  • NEBS Compliance
    • The current certified conformance with NEBS specifications.
  • Power Requirements
    • The AC and/or DC power input voltage, current, frequency, and maximum load.
  • Power Draw & Thermal Load
    • System Power (Watts) and heat generated (in British Thermal Units (BTU's)).
  • Chassis Options
    • Various sizes of chassis available in the same product family as the system under review.
  • System Applications
    • Vendor targeted applications for which it feels the system is best suited.
  • RU
    • Rack Units expresses in increment of 1.75 in. or 3.45 cm in height.
  • Chassis/Rack
    • Number of system chassis that can fit into one standard 7' ANSI rack.
  • Terms & Conditions
    • The availability and price of the platform.
  • Price (List)
    • The baseline system price levels for chassis, modules, and so forth. The Base Config. is the chassis with switch fabric, backplane, routing software, modular fan tray, and minimum number of required AC power supplies. The Base/DC is the base with substitution of DC for AC power supplies. GigE is the price of GigE modules and GBICs, if applicable.
  • Availability
    • Current and planned near-term availability of the product, modules, and software upgrades.
  • Additional Info.
    • Additional information pertaining to the product.
  • Customers
    • Named customers for the system.
  • Partners
    • Named technology partners for the system.
  • Special Notes
    • Additional information of interest.
  • Product Class Ratings
  • System Performance
    • System Performance is the switching capacity expressed in Gbps and the packet forwarding capacity is the packet throughput expressed in Mbps of the system, Architecture addresses service delivery, quality of service, and overall service applications supported such as VPLS, VPN, MPLS and others.
  • Service Assurance
    • Service assurance includes the ability of the system to deliver highly available and robust services in the event of hardware or software failures, the ability to provide hitless software upgrades, the ability to recover from link or facility failures, the OAM features, and other recovery features.
  • Footprint and Density
    • The overall footprint of the system in terms of chassis size, power requirements, the overall I/O chassis and rack densities for the interface types supported, and the status of the product's NEBS-level certifications
  • Routing and Service Features
    • The system's ability to provide routing and service features, which includes the platform's ability to provide Ethernet services, the level of routing support, quality of service (QoS), route scalability, MPLS, pseudowire support, and other attributes.
  • Management
    • Accounting and management features enable the service provider to manage the devices and provide support for provisioning, OAM, OSS/BSS integration, security, and other specialized applications that may exist within the vendor or vendor/partnership for the product or product family